There are countless versions of Harry Potter books out there. Most of them simply have different covers with varied illustrations inside them, but in the past couple years, the coolest versions of J.K. Rowling’s best-selling fantasy series have been the illustrated editions.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets have both been given illustrated editions thanks to some fine artwork by illustrator Jim Kay bringing the fantasy stories to life (and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is getting an illustrated version on October 3rd). Now the illustrated version of the first book will be getting a little more lively thanks to a new “Kindle in Motion” edition from Amazon. Check it out below! Read More »

(The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.)

In this edition, see a new, in-depth look at the visual effects that went into making the famous “loot train attack” from the seventh season of Game of Thrones. Plus, see what you think about a Harry Potter theory about The Boy Who Lived’s possible impact on The Dursleys during the 11 years he stayed at their house, and watch a fan trailer for a movie pitting Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees against each other. Read More »

Harry Potter doesn’t own wizards and magic wands — though TheWizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando certainly popularized selling them in merchandise form.

The magic wand is a particularly clever piece of marketing that also is deeply connected to the world of Harry Potter — there are whole subplots about the importance of a wizard’s bond with his wand and how the “wand chooses the wizard.” Heck, the entire finale of Harry Potter hinges on the ownership of a wand! Merlin’s wand in Disney’s The Sword in the Stone? Not so pivotal.

But Disneyland Paris is piggybacking on the success of the Harry Potter wands, and creating their own brand of magic wands that can be sold at a Merlin’s Shop near you! And by near you, I mean exclusively in Disneyland Paris.

We’ve known for a while that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the award-winning two-part play that continues J.K. Rowling’s beloved story of The Boy Who Lived, would be coming to Broadway, but it was unclear whether the production would recast any of its key actors when it came to American shores. Now we know that many of the actors from the original West End production will reprise their roles when the show moves to New York City early next year. Read on to learn the whole Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Broadway cast.Read More »

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Hogsmeade at Universal Orlando will be introducing a new “thrill ride” in 2019, replacing the Dragon Challenge. Details are vague on what the new ride will entail, but it’s exciting news for a theme park that has been rapidly expanding since it first opened, in which only a few motion-based rides were available. Now, the theme park world of Harry Potter is only getting richer and more magical.

“Words, in my humble opinion, are the most inexhaustible source of magic we have,” Albus Dumbledore advised Harry Potter in the last Deathly Hallows film.

And we’re about to get a little more of that special Harry Potter magic with a whopping two new books to be published by J.K. Rowling this fall. Yeah, go ahead — get excited, even if you were already feeling a bit dubious after Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Because no matter how much you grumble, Rowling is our king and we will eat up any and all new Harry Potter material.

Guillermo del Toro was offered the chance to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. When Christopher Columbus decided not to direct the third feature after the marathon of making the first two, del Toro, Kenneth Branagh, M. Night Shyamalan, and Marc Forster were potential candidates to direct the third film. A part of the reason del Toro turned down the job was that he could finally get Hellboy going, but to this day, he still “regrets” turning down what became the best film in the franchise.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was initially published in the U.K. on June 26, 1997. It migrated to the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone a few months later. It was a literary phenomenon and the movie adaptations become a cinematic phenomenon and then Universal Studios’ Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park lands made it a family vacation phenomenon. Entire childhoods were shaped by J.K. Rowling’s work…and plenty of adults fell in love, too.

So on today, the 20th birthday of one of the most beloved and influential pop culture icons of all time, the /Film crew has gathered to say a few words about a certain boy wizard and his books, movies, and world.

The Hollywood winds have been blowing in the direction of franchises and cinematic universe for a while, but it’s still surprising to see a studio make such a transparent move towards them and away from the creative forces that helped build the backbone of its modern era.

A regime change at Warner Bros. may spell trouble for any movie that’s not under the DC Films, Harry Potter, or Lego Movie flagships. The studio, which has admittedly been struggling to find the balance between director control and franchise loyalty, will reportedly avoid working with auteur directors “who want final cut” altogether. Yeah, it sounds like a bad idea to me too.